Dealing with a certain UNIX-centric hardware maker, OTOH, was always a total PITA. That is, on the handful of occasions over the course of a decade when I needed to deal with them.

Assuming you mean Sun—now Oracle—I found their (USA) service organization to be quite responsive if you had maintenance contracts on your equipment; they weren't really set up to handle non-contract maintenance.

I wonder if the process would have moved faster for Chris if he had purchased an "Applecare" contract for his Mac Pro. Of course, the unit was still within its original warranty period, so that shouldn't have mattered. But my experience with Apple is that if you have product under maintenance, they too are very responsive.

Also, I have always bought directly from Apple, so on the few times when I had problems with their hardware, I was dealing directly from the beginning with their corporate customer service. It appears from Chris's account that the initial period of unsuccessful part-swapping was being performed by someone at a retail outlet.

Since I reached the limit of my patience with Apple's Customer Service, I have huffed and puffed ( a LOT) down the phone.

The case has been promoted once more up the Apple food chain and further signs of movement on the issue are apparent.

Nothing yet definitive however.

I begin to hear from Apple that since this is a new product (albeit eight months since introduction), there is no precedent for actually replacing a machine at this level - thus their rather delayed and hesitant responses. If this is correct, it speaks well of the product's reliability if not of their customer service.

I guess you can always be the first at something - dubious privilege as this instance is.

I will update further...

I feel for ya Chris, but you know a macpro is way down the food chain when it comes to apple's bottom line. You go into an apple store and they have three stuffed in the back, though you pass by 45 macairs, 22 imacs and 1250 phones before you'll see one.

Use to the macpro was the king of the Apple Jungle and since they made most their cash of us graphic pros, they listened, now we're about 4% of their bottom line, if that.

Through I know you like FCP X, when they came out with that beast it was clear their market stopped being the working image maker and moved to the amateur blogger/filmaker/silver lake resident.

I know today I'll buy an Imac cause they don't break the bank, I can buy two for one macpros and even then if I wasn't so deeply vested in Apple stuff, which seems to be all hooked together, I'd switch to custom made PCs in a blink.

Not that you need my opinion but, if I ended up with a dead machine and a response like you've been getting, I would have a law professional write a letter asking for full refund and a do over.

There is just no reason to lose this much time, but once again, I truly wish you well.

This thread caught my eye because I recently had grief with a 2007 Mac Pro that was given to me by its exasperated original owner (that series has a random restart issue that no one can solve), and I finally took a screwdriver to the thing, taking out every last part, wire and screw and selling its organs on ebay.

As for Apple hardware, I think we can all agree it's the most attractive in terms of form-factor, but in many cases it's over-engineered (the old Mac Pro certainly was) and perhaps over-priced (or perhaps not).

The iMacs are my favorite design but I understand a percentage of video and 3D pros need more beef such as the new Pro.

No one has mentioned the "H" word yet [Hackintosh] but such a beast would bring together affordable, quality, easily upgradable/replaceable hardware with the Mac OS. Yes, I understand the legalities and no, I have never tried this myself, but it's a known and easily researched option that Apple hasn't bothered to crush yet. So long as the App Store and iTunes work, I believe Apple is happy!

I hope you get through the corporate drama and end up with either a working Pro or a refund.

I begin to hear from Apple that since this is a new product (albeit eight months since introduction), there is no precedent for actually replacing a machine at this level - thus their rather delayed and hesitant responses. If this is correct, it speaks well of the product's reliability if not of their customer service.

Or not many have been sold. I was talking to an Apple Store employee the other day and she said, that she'd not sold any yet.I want to replace my MP, but the non-pro form factor is not appealing at all. It seems like a Mac Mini on steroids rather than professional replacement. All the nonsense about being smaller is marketing BS as of course it's smaller with it's insides ripped put and attached by a nest of cables. I loathe cables and cabling, so a terrible design in my view.

Something I experienced more than once in my professional life: the difficulty of dealing with companies making products that rarely break. (Note that I own some Apple products but am no fanboy...I keep Windows & Linux systems running too and will happily use anything that works well regardless of maker.)

Unfortunately Apple kit stuff does fail.My MP took several months to get it stable enough to use for work. An OS update fixed one of the issues which was graphics card related, but it went to Apple store many times.My MBP had magsafe charger replaced under recall and the power socket and parts inside replaced as they'd been damaged by the charger. There's currently a recall on European plug adaptors for the iPhone and all my flimsy 30pin phone cables have broken, so not surprising they get no stars on Apple's site and cables have a very large return rate according to the Apple employee I know. The newer lightning connector has issues too and only gets 1.5 stars.My iPhone from the word go has had appalling battery life, which both Apple and O2 have failed to sort. I have to carry a charger or battery booster to get through a day and if I do anything rash like make phone calls then possibly a third charge may be needed. Luckily I'm a very light user of phones, so just about manage.My iPad was replaced within a week as the lightning charge port was flakey.The iPod Nano hasn't needed anything doing but barely got used either.Other photographers I know also talk about returning to Apple store to get stuff fixed, so not just me.

Yes, the repair shop is an authorized Apple dealer but not an Apple store.

The original Apple Customer Service rep said that it should make no difference. The difference to me was three hours roundtrip vs a one hour roundtrip. Would it have made a difference? Quite possibly.

The service in Apple Stores is very good indeed. In fact I doubt I'd have persevered with Apple stuff had I not had one close to hand.The one near me is pretty small, yet they have about 140 staff and up to 40 working at a time - an astonishing amount of staff for such a dinky shop, a single fronted shop maybe 5-6m wide and 20-25m deep.

During this painful process, I wrote a shortened form of my posts in this thread on MacinTouch.com

It prompted this response from MacinTouch reader CK:

Writing as a former Apple phone tech and occasionally disgruntled customer, Mr. Sanderson will be served fastest if he goes straight to the top.During my time of working phone support, the power was in the hands of Customer Relations. CR can wave the scepter and make things happen, if they are motivated properly. Tech were just the expendable myrmidons at the gate.But sometimes that is not enough. An email to steve@apple.com could bring forth wonders. I spent time on utmost concision, since I was asking a royal favor*. I would expect that Mr. Cook also has an email address.*He did me one once, personally commenting on one of my cases that my actions were justified. The customer had escalated just as I have done.

I tried a Tweeted reply to Mr Cook during the time that he posted a couple of photos on Twitter at the Dallas MacPro plant and in the Apple Customer Care phonecenter. The replies to his Tweets are apparently ignored!

During this painful process, I wrote a shortened form of my posts in this thread on MacinTouch.com

It prompted this response from MacinTouch reader CK:

Writing as a former Apple phone tech and occasionally disgruntled customer, Mr. Sanderson will be served fastest if he goes straight to the top.During my time of working phone support, the power was in the hands of Customer Relations. CR can wave the scepter and make things happen, if they are motivated properly. Tech were just the expendable myrmidons at the gate.But sometimes that is not enough. An email to steve@apple.com could bring forth wonders. I spent time on utmost concision, since I was asking a royal favor*. I would expect that Mr. Cook also has an email address.*He did me one once, personally commenting on one of my cases that my actions were justified. The customer had escalated just as I have done.

I tried a Tweeted reply to Mr Cook during the time that he posted a couple of photos on Twitter at the Dallas MacPro plant and in the Apple Customer Care phonecenter. The replies to his Tweets are apparently ignored!

I received a call from the AppleCare people today. They offered to pro-rate the AppleCare on the old now-dead machine (3 months old when it died, would have been 4 months old now) and transfer it to the new machine with the four months shaved off. Hmmmm...

or

Receive a refund and start over with a new AppleCare package on the new machine. This latter option would have netted out to cost me an additional $30. Hmmmmm....

Having hung up the phone and thought about it for 30 seconds longer, I wrote an angry email to Customer Relations: (edited for brevity)....First the AppleCare is a two year extension of warranty that had notcome close to being invoked. Yeah, I know Apple doesn't see it thatway - but I do.

The original machine was covered under its 'built-in' 12 monthwarranty. Why do I have to pay $30 for something I did not receive??

Second, as you know this whole sorry mess has caused both Apple & Isome grief and pain. This stupidity simply compounds it.

The least Apple could do is extend out the Apple Care to the proper 24months beyond warranty.

Happily, it took Customer Relations less than 5 minutes to straighten AppleCare out.

Last year I had an issue with AppleCare (I was getting conflicting answers about its validity overseas) and in exasperation I dashed off an email to Tim Cook. That same afternoon I got a call from one of his associates and the matter was resolved swiftly. So yes, it doesn't hurt to email the top guy.

Last year I had an issue with AppleCare (I was getting conflicting answers about its validity overseas) and in exasperation I dashed off an email to Tim Cook. That same afternoon I got a call from one of his associates and the matter was resolved swiftly. So yes, it doesn't hurt to email the top guy.

I can only echo your experience… It didn't take 12 hours to get a solution to my problem!

I received a call from the AppleCare people today. They offered to pro-rate the AppleCare on the old now-dead machine (3 months old when it died, would have been 4 months old now) and transfer it to the new machine with the four months shaved off. Hmmmm...

or

Receive a refund and start over with a new AppleCare package on the new machine. This latter option would have netted out to cost me an additional $30. Hmmmmm....

Having hung up the phone and thought about it for 30 seconds longer, I wrote an angry email to Customer Relations: (edited for brevity)....First the AppleCare is a two year extension of warranty that had notcome close to being invoked. Yeah, I know Apple doesn't see it thatway - but I do.

The original machine was covered under its 'built-in' 12 monthwarranty. Why do I have to pay $30 for something I did not receive??

Second, as you know this whole sorry mess has caused both Apple & Isome grief and pain. This stupidity simply compounds it.

The least Apple could do is extend out the Apple Care to the proper 24months beyond warranty.

Happily, it took Customer Relations less than 5 minutes to straighten AppleCare out.

I never get apple care (normally don’t have the computer that long with a laptop). May consider it with my new MacPro, however, I believe you can buy it anytime during your original warranty period? Risk is forgetting about it, but I usually get an email reminding me my warranty is about to expire and offering to add applecare. So I”m going to wait a few more months till the Mac Pro is about 10 months old or so.

I never get apple care (normally don’t have the computer that long with a laptop). May consider it with my new MacPro, however, I believe you can buy it anytime during your original warranty period? Risk is forgetting about it, but I usually get an email reminding me my warranty is about to expire and offering to add applecare. So I”m going to wait a few more months till the Mac Pro is about 10 months old or so.

Buy it (AppleCare) from BH instead of the Apple Store; the price difference is often significant.